My rebuilt Perkins won't start

[miangus]

If the correct marking appears in the injection pump window when the piston comes up on compression, that would tell me the timing gears are installed correctly. At this point, I would do two things check your compression and send the pump out to be checked. I never tried it it seems when you had the injectors out for the compression test you could crank it over and check injector spray and timing somewhat. Of course, me being me and if I had it running a bit on starting fluid, I might try a little more of that Keeping in mind that I am an ex drag racer and was raised in a logging family, may have wrecked a few things in my life.

 

[Dieseltech]

I doubt ANY fuel shop would put an unknown pump on ANY stand and risk damage to the stand, I know I won't. I would take it COMPLETELY DOWN and start over as I've seen what Billy Joe Jim Bob Bubba Junior has done in the past on some I've had in for repair.

 

[Jim Mitchell]

Here is where I am now,
I checked the cylinder compression and show about 300 psi on each cylinder.
The timing of the E showing up in the injector pump window seems to coincide with the #1 cylinder coming to TDC, and the timing mark on the flywheel showing up at the same time.
I took my injector pump apart again, and since I am getting fuel to the injectors, believe that it was put back together correctly.
However, I don't think I am getting enough pressure to pop off the injectors.
I tried to install the #1 injector on the end of the #1 injector line, with the nozzle down in a jug to catch the spray but about all I accomplished was getting fuel all over the place from the injector overflow line, but not out the nozzle.
I do get little white puffs of smoke but no attempt by the engine to run.
It seems to me that if the injector pump is putting out fuel that is would be willing to compress it enough to get the injector to pop off. (By the way, does anyone know what the injector inlet pressure is supposed to be?)
Does anyone see what it is that I am still missing?

 

[Dieseltech]

Sounds to me like the injection pump HYDRAULIC HEAD is SHOT. a complete calibration test, or a good trained eye while it was apart would verify it. When new, injector opening pressure is 1754 PSI, up to ten per cent less is allowed with a used spring.

 

[Jim Mitchell]

If the hydraulic head is somehow defective, it would be something that I did when I reassembled it, given that the tractor started and ran before I launched this wild adventure to rebuild it. I just don't know what I could have done wrong. Since I didn't take apart the rotating element or try to adjust the fuel delivery rate when I pulled it out of the body, there just isn't that much inside there, as I remember it.

 

[used red MN]

If the hydraulic head is somehow defective, it would be something that I did when I reassembled it, given that the tractor started and ran before I launched this wild adventure to rebuild it. I just don't know what I could have done wrong. Since I didn't take apart the rotating element or try to adjust the fuel delivery rate when I pulled it out of the body, there just isn't that much inside there, as I remember it.

If the tractor ran reasonably well before such as without a dead miss that would indicate an injector may be bad like the number one injector that you chose to test then it looks like you need to bite the bullet and pay someone to check out your pump. You could try number two injector just to be certain something isn’t wrong with injector 1, place bolts with washers on them slightly snugged down in the open return banjos to limit the fuel flow to drips.
Injection pump work requires meticulously clean working area and assembly. Even lint off of rags or loose fibers off of paper towels can be troublesome. Your pump is probably a bit more tolerable due to it having less tight tolerances compared to the current higher pressure pumps that push pressures over 10,000 psi.

 

[Jim Mitchell]

Well, I finally got it to start. And, I don't know why, for sure.
After I checked out, and corrected the timing problem I created by not paying attention to the D mark on the cam shaft gear, I tested compression, which showed about 300 psi on each cylinder.
I checked the timing and it all looked correct, within the margin of error.
I then decided that I had a fuel problem. I bled and cranked and cranked and bled, but to no avail.
I took the pump off and used a drill to run it on the bench. When I got it to squirt a little bit out each delivery port I figured I was good to reinstall it. But it still didn't work.
I took the lines off at the pump and cranked it but there wasn't much, but it did act like it was trying each time the lobe passed the different delivery ports.
Oh, and I replaced the battery, figuring that the old battery I was using was not capable of giving the rpm that I needed to get the injector pump spun up enough to get the volume I needed from the pump. It didn't help. Oh well, I was going to have to get a new one anyway.
After watching as many YouTube videos as I could find on the subject, I became convinced that the pump needed to be giving a good squirt out of each delivery port, not just giving a little poot of fuel.
So, I took the plate that covers the low-pressure end of the injector pump off and took all the components out of the fuel-in chamber.
I was not sure if the little valve inside there was in right-side up or upside down. When I took it all apart I found a bit of debris that was cocking the valve and probably not letting it do its job.
I reinstalled all those components in the infeed end, based on what I had seen in the videos, and reinstalled the assembly on the pump.
I bled what I needed to and ran the pump without the injector lines attached to it. And I got good solid squirts of fuel.
Once I reattached and bled the injector lines, my reward was that the engine happily filled my shop with diesel smoke and had to be shut down with the fuel shut-off, just like it's supposed to.
Hallelujah!
Thanks for everyone who chimed in trying to help buy giving me suggestions about things to check. (Thankfully I don't have to go the expense of sending out my pump, though.)
Hopefully someone else can learn a little something from all my troubles, and all your comments.

 

[gbsmith]

persistence pays off, i done the same many a time until i would figure out what was causing the problem, instead of loading the parts cannon and shooting it at the problem, i reckon one of the reasons i'm that way is and 2 old mechanic's i worked around, one had a saying if someone else could built it then it could be rebuilt, the other would call you a parts changer for not trying to repair a bad component that's been a long time ago and the world today is different it's not cost effective anymore , use to be referred to as a mechanic now it is a technician. glad to hear you found the problem.